After the bud is grown, it opens its cloak and throws it
back. Then we see the pretty dress underneath. We call this dress the
corolla. Sometimes it is all in one piece, but often it is divided into
several leaf-like parts which we call petals.
If we look within the dress or corolla, we find the real body of
the flower, which is called the pistil. Its shape varies greatly in
different plants, but it always consists of two or three distinct parts.
One of these is the cradle for the seeds, and is called the ovary.
At one end of the ovary is usually a little tube leading down into it.
This tube is called the style, and the opening at the other end is
called the stigma. Each ovary or cradle contains one or more ovules
which by and by will grow into seeds. Just outside the pistil of a
flower you usually will find a row of slender, thread-like stalks, each
bearing a soft, oblong body at the top, falling out of which you will
see a fine yellow powder called pollen. It is a peculiar fact that these
seeds never can grow into new plants unless they are fertilized, that
is, unless they receive some pollen. It is another peculiar fact that
although nearly every flower has this pollen growing right near the
little ovules, yet they cannot be fertilized with this pollen, but must
receive some from the flower of another plant family.
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